Thursday, March 07, 2013

Political Obituary 2013: Complete Revised Edition

By KK Blogger

As Kenyans painfully and anxiously wait to see who between Uhuru or Raila is send down crashing, the voters have not disappointed by once again embarrassing notable political faces in the five-year ritual.

While some of us are still waiting for the Uhuru Shocker to sink in or evaporate, whichever comes first, the following towering political giants have a lot in common courtesy of the electorate.

So-called seasoned political heavyweights lost both their mass and pedigree. Here is a short list of the voters obituary so far:

Octagarians William Ntimama and Henry Kosgey: wise men who should have figured out when to let the younger generation take over the chase in the latest hunt in his own backyards.

Charity Ngilu, a presidential contender that never was to begin with, and known to blame her former political rivals for everything that seemed to go wrong in her malfunctioned camp.

Ali Chirau Mwakwere, the self-proclaimed whale that survived the last beaching but went on and mistook an artificial lagoon for the barrier reefs, where he ended up being swallowed by a talented homegrown catfish.

Gitobu Imanyara, ended up accepting the fact that being forced to face Mt. Kenya was not a bad idea after all, despite of the great odds and bright sunrays that have continued to melt ice from most peaks.

Samuel Poghisio, thought he had it cushioned and made for another ten years, but was unaware that the county grazing grounds were far large and diverse than those in his former constituency. What did him in and hastened his demise was the fact he had failed to he needed to make sure that people who don't own planes or rent helicopters, deserve to have better rural access roads and bridges, among other very basic services in the last ten years.

Chris Okemo, swallowed more ngenge that he could chew, given his pending legal problems and pressures derived form fears of being extradited to a foreign court system to face justice.

Cyrus Jirongo, a man with the largest war chest worth billions shillings could not manage to convince his people to help him take one of the regional bull fighter by the horns.

Nicholas Biwott, fails to understand that his region, people and rest of the country has made great strides since 1992 and 2002, one of the reasons he will now be remembered as 'a man who got totaled at the polls' when he least expected it.

Mukhisa Kituyi, is man known to have come from far, don't forget to check out a 1989 photo of him taken at Hillcrest Hotel, at a time when was still working for ACTION AID. He should have known better and avoided wrangling it out with a formidable opponent like Musa Wetangula.

Musikari Kombo, was best suited for the elders' council but refused to join his villagers and clansmen due to lack of humility. He still views himself as a king and champion who helped win the political battles that were fought during the early-mid 1990s. Very few of his own trusted people are still afraid of reminding him that he considered as a man whose time evaporated long time ago.

Chris Murungaru, there is very little to talk about the man because the latest humiliating defeat at the polls speaks volumes.

Amos Kimunya, seem to have never gotten the memo that "he must go" and stay away from active politics forever. The bullfighter had tried to gore him several years ago but the establishment prevailed by helping him retain his portfolio at the time.

The list goes on where many more political giants have either bitten the dust or are in the process of be floored by newcomers whose names were relatively unknown two years ago.

Cherenganyi has finally liberated itself from the tight business-as-usual clutches of another prominent motor-mouth who lost the race after having been chased and later outrunned by Kipchumba Korir, a sports ambassador and Boston Marathon champion.

The Cheregany member of parliament elect happens to be very intelligent, eloquent, reasonable, articualte in Swahili and English -, pensive, and politically mature than the downed opponent - Joshua Serem Kutuny - who may or will remain vanguished from the scenic Hills of Cherenganyi for the next five to ten years.

As a matter of fact, Joshua is known to have failed to lead the people of Cherenganyi to the promised land of real development and progress as stipulated in his political proclaimations and personal declarations when he was first elected to office due to the goodwill of the majority of the electorate in Cheregany in 2007, at a time when Kirwa had become the most unfavourable political face in their constituency.

The one-term member of parliament credited with having 'trounced Kirwa' in 2007, is a former student of political science who never learned to put into practice what he had learned toin order to earn his academic degree.

So far, it is believed that he ended up becoming a real victim of his big political ego and other leadership vices, plus what many of his friends and foes seem to agree upon, a 'deep seated political novice mentality' that he never relinquished in order to pay more attention to the needs of his now former constituents.

Mbaru who? What happened to him and others who were being politically hyped and fronted for one reason or another before the general elction? What became of all the funding that was channeled into various social pipelines of Nairobi County during the last couple of weeks and days leading to the elections?

What comes to mind when some of us picture an incumbent politician on his or her way out through an exit door after meant for ordinary mortals, especially aftr they have been given their retirement papers or marching by the electorate?

The March, 4th, general election will continue to grant the general public with an insightful look at the sudden change of fortune inloving a large number of incumbent politicians who were not only hoping to be people of influence in their own backyards but also major players and occupiers of various corridors of power in the next adminstration.

The ever growing list of fallen former members of parliament continues to feel the landfield with coated dust of 'who was once who' in the 10th August House and Kibaki's adminstration.

Mututho of all incumbents hesitated to make a steady move and stand his ground at the same time when it mattered most, only to end up being rejected by the majority of his former employers (electorate).

A similar major blunder that ended the political careers of other incumbents like Najib Balala, Mungatana Mambatana, Wavinya Ndetu, Sally Kosgei, Margaret Kamar, Harun Mwau, Ekwe Ethuro, et al.

An overly confident Mwangi Kiunjiri was another one of the incumbents who never saw nor heard his political defeat coming with a very heavy electoral thud, in the manner Ongeri did after having failed to adequately plan for his retirement as early as December of 2002.

The last ten years were a political bliss for him and he had planed on staying in power for another ten years, but luckily the electorate had other final retiremnt plans for him.

The sacked, fired, dimissed, expelled or rejected politicians must have either known their time was up, or others were just too blind to figure out what awaited them at the polls on March 4th. In hindsight, it now makes a lot of sense as to why a large number of the MPigs demanded to be given a nine million shillings plus farewell package, because some of them were greedy enough and had their eyes already set on the senatorial and gubernatorial seats, while others were clueless of what was in store for them. The rest is history that will make its rounds for a very long time.

Esther Passaris never made waves after her failed bid for the Nairobi mayoral seat in December of 2008. The electorate may never have her seriously, otherwise, she would have been elected a women representative with the help of her one time powerful friends in the former prestigious club of ODM Pentagon.

Sign up for Coalition for the ICC email updates for civil society perspectives on the ICC Kenya 4 trials http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=mailinglists&lang=en. The Coalition is a network of NGOs in 150 countries advocating for a fair, effective and independent ICC and improved access to justice for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.